Tuesday, May 06, 2008

Heike Drechsler was nominated for a seat on the IAAF's women's committee by the German athletics federation, the Deutscher Leichtathletik-Verband and in August last year in Osaka was elected as the German representative. A very significant role, as the 2009 IAAF World Championships will be held in Berlin. At the same meeting Lord Coe (AKA Sebastian Coe) was elected a vice chairman of the IAAF.

44 year old Heike Gabriela Drechsler was born in Gera, then in East Germany. One of a clutch of world famous record shattering athletes she is the only woman who has won two Olympic gold medals in the long jump (1992 and 2000 both when representing the unified Germany). She also won two World Championships in the long jump (1983 and 1993), as well as gold medals in the long jump and the 200 m sprint in the World Indoor Championships 1987.

In 1986, Drechsler twice equalled Marita Koch's 200 metres sprint world record and set two long jump world records and equalled one in 1985 and 1986.

She still holds the world Championship record for Juniors of 7.14 m. at Bratslava on 4th June 1983 the the World Youth record of 6.91 m at jena in 1981. Current best women's l;ong jump in 2008 is Britney reese of the USA with 6.93 m at Baton Rouge on 16th April.

The sorry tale of East German doping of athletes was exposed in "Doping - Dokumente" a book published by Professor Franke, a prominent biochemist and his wife in 1992. She is Brigitte Berendonk who was an East German Pentathlete and fled to West germany and competed as a discus thrower for West germany in the Olympic Games of 1968 and 1972.

They had access to Stasi files that unearthed many unsavoury features of the state controlled athletics industry. They claimed that the 18 year old Heike Drechsler participating in the Helsinki World Championships in 1983 was an informer for the Staatssicherheitsdienst - the Stasi, and that her code name was , "Springen" - Jump.

It is also known that as teenager she was active in the Free German Youth (FDJ) and in 1984 she was elected to the Volkskammer of East Germany.

The book also documented the elaborate medically supervised steroid regimes that East german male and female athletes were obliged to undertake, principally the anabolic steroid oral turinabol and the hormone testosterone. The book reported that Drechsler had been given drugs between 1982 and 1984 and when she described the claim as "a lie" , on publication the authors sued her and she was ordered to pay £7,500 costs and to issue a formal apology.

At the 1968 Mexico City Olympics, the country of 17 million collected nine gold medals. Four years later the total was 20 and in 1976 it doubled again to 40.

Of course many East German athletes have not enjoyed much subsequent success and 160 of them have joined in suing Jenapharm, (now a subsidiary of Schering) for US$4.2 Mn , the firm which manufactured the pharmaceuticals they unwittingly consumed. "We are not just talking about complaints which can be fixed by an operation. We are talking about heart disease, liver failure, cancer," said former shot putter Birgit Boese, who was pumped full of drugs from the age of 11 and told that they were vitamins.

Former swimmer Catherine Menschner, now 43, has had seven miscarriages, found after research in Stasi files that she formed part of a secret guinea-pig class for steroid trials. Menschner told Germany's ARD television she needed to take pain killers constantly.

Heidi Krieger is one of them - winner of the women's shot put at the 1986 European Championships in Stuttgart, where Drechsler struck gold in both the 200m and the long jump, she was fed such such massive doses of hormones she underwent a sex-change operation and is now living as a man, Herr Andreas Krieger. (Read the full story here NYTJan 26th 2004)

Rainer Hartwich, whose Stasi codename was "Klinner," worked as a clinical research doctor for Jenapharm, and has revealed on German television he alerted the Stasi in 1988 to the dangers of steroids.

"I believe there is a moral responsibility here, and that the victims must be supported. This is Jenapharm's responsibility and they should fulfill their duty," he said.

Jenapharm says as Oral-Turinabol was legal in the German Democratic Republic and it did nothing wrong. In a statement Jenapharm have said "This substance was legally approved in the GDR and available on the market, but was misused by sports physicians and trainers," Jenapharm had the State monopoly of oral contraceptives in East Germany.

Just before Christmas 2006 Jenapharm in an out of court setllement agreed to pay 184 athletes of US$11,200 apiece for damage caused by the state's doping program. Germany's Olympic Sports Organization agreed to pay the same amount to 170 athletes.

Apologies, 7 years after diagnosis of Type II diabetes, developing peripheral neuritis in the hands and retinal nueropathy with some macular degneration doesn't help even though 40 years history of touch typing and many years proof reading as a copywriter don't help.

For the last 4 weeks a severe dose of shingles which is even more painful than childbirth has not helped either.

The sense does however come through and careful (and regular) readers might notice things do get cleaned up..er..ventually.

Won't even start on the fing problems with fing Vista and its fing "security" features.

When the Wall came down there was a reverse take over: East Germany took over West Germany. Examples of this include 1) the Chancellor; 2) who paid most; 3) establishment positions filled by Stasi (former?, yeah, right).